More than a third of Americans are not getting enough sleep according to CDC

More than a third of Americans are not getting enough sleep according to CDC

Posted by CDC
on
August 20, 2016

Here is an article we found on the importance of sleep. How do you stack up? The importance of a good night sleep is essential to optimal health.

More than a third of American adults are not getting enough sleep on a
regular basis, according to a new study in the Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention's (CDC) Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.
This is the first study to document estimates of self-reported healthy
sleep duration (7 or more hours per day) for all 50 states and the
District of Columbia.

The American Academy of Sleep Medicine and the Sleep Research Society
recommend that adults aged 18–60 years sleep at least 7 hours each
night to promote optimal health and well-being. Sleeping less than seven
hours per day is associated with an increased risk of developing
chronic conditions such as obesity, diabetes, high blood pressure, heart
disease, stroke, and frequent mental distress.

“As a nation we are not getting enough sleep,” said Wayne Giles,
M.D., director of CDC’s Division of Population Health. “Lifestyle
changes such as going to bed at the same time each night; rising at the
same time each morning; and turning off or removing televisions,
computers, mobile devices from the bedroom, can help people get the
healthy sleep they need.”

The prevalence of healthy sleep duration varied among states and ranged from 56 percent in Hawaii to 72 percent in South Dakota.

A lower proportion of adults reported getting at least seven hours
of sleep per day in states clustered in the southeastern region of the
United States and the Appalachian Mountains. Previous studies have shown
that these regions also have the highest prevalence of obesity and
other chronic conditions.

People who reported they were unable to work or were unemployed had
lower healthy sleep duration (51 percent and 60 percent, respectively)
than did employed respondents (65 percent). The prevalence of healthy
sleep duration was highest among people with a college degree or higher
(72 percent).

The percentage reporting a healthy sleep duration was higher among
people who were married (67 percent) compared with those who were never
married (62 percent) or divorced, widowed, or separated (56 percent).